Lightning News

World Championship Tournament Primer

by
Staff Writer
/ Tampa Bay Lightning

Just days before the 2012 IIHF World Championship kicks off on May 4 in Finland and Sweden, the two countries who met in last year's gold-medal game, the rosters for each team were officially released. As is the case every year, many of the NHL's biggest stars dot the national-team lineups.

While Belarus, Italy, Kazakhstan, and Norway will not feature a single player currently on an NHL roster, the remaining 12 countries have at least some NHL representation. Surprisingly, the defending champion and top-ranked Finns are not among the more star-studded teams. They will have Kari Lehtonen of the Dallas Stars in goal but won't feature a single NHL player on their blue line. Up front, they'll rely on team captain Mikko Koivu (Minnesota) and forward Jussi Jokinen (Carolina). Top prospect Mikael Granlund, who starred for the Finns last year, is also on the roster.

Sweden, last year's runner-up, will be Red Wings-heavy with Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen, Niklas Kronwall, and Jonathan Ericsson on the roster. The Swedes also have some of the NHL's top young talent in Loui Eriksson (Stars), Gabriel Landeskog (Avalanche), Victor Hedman (Lightning) and Viktor Stalberg (Blackhawks). After being led last year by Swedish Elite League goaltender Viktor Fasth, the Swedes will rely on Buffalo's Jhonas Enroth this year.

Team USA and Canada will be made up almost entirely of NHL talent. Considering both teams bowed out in the quarterfinals last year, the key will be for Canadian coach Brent Sutter and American coach Scott Gordon to make that talent gel. The Americans will rely on goaltender Jimmy Howard (Red Wings) and veteran defensemen Jack Johnson (Blue Jackets) and Alex Goligoski (Stars), as well as youngsters Cam Fowler (Ducks) and Justin Faulk (Hurricanes). Up front, the United States will be led by 30-goal scorers Bobby Ryan (Ducks) and Max Pacioretty (Canadiens) as well as center Paul Stastny (Avalanche), who starred for the USA at the 2007 tournament.

Like year's past, Canada will feature a number of NHL All-Stars, including goaltender Cam Ward ('Canes), defenseman Duncan Keith (Blackhawks) and Dion Phaneuf (Maple Leafs), and forwards Jamie Benn (Stars), Jordan Eberle (Oilers), Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry (Ducks), Jeff Skinner (Hurricanes) and John Tavares (Islanders) -- who led Team Canada in scoring last year. The key for Canada could be Ward, who went 5-0 with a 2.20 goals against average in leading Canada to the 2007 championship. The following year, he went 4-1 as Canada finished second behind Russia.

In the highest-scoring bronze-medal game in tournament history, the Czechs topped Russia 7-4 last year. While a number of players from that game, including Jaromir Jagr, Patrik Elias, Ilya Kovalchuk, and Alex Ovechkin, will not be participating, the Czechs and Russians still feature standout NHL talent. The Czechs will be led by David Krejci (Bruins), Michael Frolik (Blackhawks), Ales Hemsky (Oilers), Tomas Plekanec (Canadiens) and Jiri Tlusty (Hurricanes). The Russians, meanwhile, will be led by two of the world's best players in Evgeni Malkin (Penguins) and Pavel Datsyuk (Red Wings). With Semyon Varlamov (Avalanche) in net and NHLers Alexander Burmistrov (Jets) and Nikolai Kulemin (Maple Leafs) as well as top prospect Evgeni Kuznetsov up front, Russia will look to improve on last year's fourth-place finish.

Though it's the birthplace of some of the world's finest players, Slovakia will only feature two NHL players in Tomas Kopecky (Panthers) and Andrej Sekera (Sabres). Florida's Marcel Goc will play for Germany; Denmark will have Jannik Hansen (Canucks), Philip Larsen (Stars), Frans Nielsen (Islanders) and Lars Eller (Canadiens), while defensemen Luca Sbisa (Ducks) and Mark Streit (Islanders) will play for Switzerland.

GROUPS

The 16 teams are divided into two groups for the Preliminary Round:

HELSINKI:

STOCKHOLM:

Finland

Russia

Canada

Sweden

USA

Czech Republic

Switzerland

Germany

Slovakia

Norway

Belarus

Latvia

France

Denmark

Kazakhstan

Italy

GAME SCHEDULE

Note: First time CET (Stockholm time), second EET (Helsinki time)

Preliminary Round

Date

Game

Time

City

Home Team

Away Team

Fri, May 4

1

11:15/12:15

Helsinki

USA

vs.

France

Fri, May 4

2

12:15/13:15

Stockholm

German

vs.

Italy

Fri, May 4

3

15:15/16:15

Helsinki

Canada

vs.

Slovakia

Fri, May 4

4

16:15/17:15

Stockholm

Czech Rep.

vs.

Denmark

Fri, May 4

5

19:15/20:15

Helsinki

Belarus

vs.

Finland

Fri, May 4

6

20:15/21:15

Stockholm

Sweden

vs.

Norway

Sat, May 5

7

14:00/15:00

Helsinki

Switzerland

vs.

Kazakhstan

Sat, May 5

8

16:15/17:15

Stockholm

Latvia

vs.

Russia

Sat, May 5

9

18:00/19:00

Helsinki

Canada

vs.

USA

Sat, May 5

10

20:15/21:15

Stockholm

Sweden

vs.

Czech Rep.

Sun, May 6

11

11:15/12:15

Helsinki

France

vs.

Kazakhstan

Sun, May 6

12

12:15/13:15

Stockholm

Denmark

vs.

Italy

Sun, May 6

13

15:15/16:15

Helsinki

Finland

vs.

Slovakia

Sun, May 6

14

16:15/17:15

Stockholm

Russia

vs.

Norway

Sun, May 6

15

19:15/20:15

Helsinki

Switzerland

vs.

Belarus

Sun, May 6

16

20:15/21:15

Stockholm

Germany

vs.

Latvia

Mon, May 7

17

15:15/16:15

Helsinki

France

vs.

Canada

Mon, May 7

18

16:15/17:15

Stockholm

Czech Rep.

vs.

Norway

Mon, May 7

19

19:15/20:15

Helsinki

USA

vs.

Slovakia

Mon, May 7

20

20:15/21:15

Stockholm

Denmark

vs.

Sweden

Tue, May 8

21

15:15/16:15

Helsinki

Belarus

vs.

Kazakhstan

Tue, May 8

22

16:15/17:15

Stockholm

Latvia

vs.

Italy

Tue, May 8

23

19:15/20:15

Helsinki

Finland

vs.

Switzerland

Tue, May 8

24

20:15/21:15

Stockholm

Russia

vs.

Germany

Wed, May 9

25

15:15/16:15

Helsinki

Slovakia

vs.

Kazakhstan

Wed, May 9

26

16:15/17:15

Stockholm

Norway

vs.

Italy

Wed, May 9

27

19:15/20:15

Helsinki

Canada

vs.

Switzerland

Wed, May 9

28

20:15/21:15

Stockholm

Sweden

vs.

Germany

Thu, May 10

29

15:15/16:15

Helsinki

USA

vs.

Belarus

Thu, May 10

30

16:15/17:15

Stockholm

Denmark

vs.

Russia

Thu, May 10

31

19:15/20:15

Helsinki

France

vs.

Finland

Thu, May 10

32

20:15/21:15

Stockholm

Czech Rep.

vs.

Latvia

Fri, May 11

33

15:15/16:15

Helsinki

Kazakhstan

vs.

USA

Fri, May 11

34

16:15/17:15

Stockholm

Italy

vs.

Czech Rep.

Fri, May 11

35

19:15/20:15

Helsinki

Finland

vs.

Canada

Fri, May 11

36

20:15/21:15

Stockholm

Russia

vs.

Sweden

Sat, May 12

37

11:15/12:15

Helsinki

Slovakia

vs.

Belarus

Sat, May 12

38

12:15/13:15

Stockholm

Norway

vs.

Latvia

Sat, May 12

39

15:15/16:15

Helsinki

Switzerland

vs.

France

Sat, May 12

40

16:15/17:15

Stockholm

Germany

vs.

Denmark

Sat, May 12

41

19:15/20:15

Helsinki

Kazakhstan

vs.

Canada

Sat, May 12

42

20:15/21:15

Stockholm

Italy

vs.

Sweden

Sun, May 13

43

15:15/16:15

Helsinki

Finland

vs.

USA

Sun, May 13

44

16:15/17:15

Stockholm

Russia

vs.

Czech Rep.

Sun, May 13

45

19:15/20:15

Helsinki

Sitzerland

vs.

Slovakia

Sun, May 13

46

20:15/21:15

Stockholm

Germany

vs.

Norway

Mon, May 14

47

15:15/16:15

Helsinki

Belarus

vs.

France

Mon, May 14

48

16:15/17:15

Stockholm

Latvia

vs.

Denmark

Mon, May 14

49

19:15/20:15

Helsinki

Kazakhstan

vs.

Finland

Mon, May 14

50

20:15/21:15

Stockholm

Italy

vs.

Russia

Tue, May 15

51

11:15/12:15

Helsinki

Canada

vs.

Belarus

Tue, May 15

52

12:15/13:15

Stockholm

Norway

vs.

Denmark

Tue, May 15

53

15:15/16:15

Helsinki

Slovakia

vs.

France

Tue, May 15

54

16:15/17:15

Stockholm

Czech Rep.

vs.

Germany

Tue, May 15

55

19:15/20:15

Helsinki

USA

vs.

Switzerland

Tue, May 15

56

20:15/21:15

Stockholm

Sweden

vs.

Latvia

QUARTER-FINALS

Date

Game

Time

City

Thu, May 17

57

12:00/13:00

Helsinki

Thu, May 17

58

14:45/15:45

Stockholm

Thu, May 17

59

17:30/18:30

Helsinki

Thu, May 17

60

20:15/21:15

Stockholm

Quarter-finals: Helsinki: (1H-4H) & (2H-3H); Stockholm: (1S-4S) & (2S-3S).If qualified for the quarter-finals, Finland will play the evening game (59) in Helsinki.If qualified for the quarter-finals, Sweden will play the evening game (60) in Stockholm.

SEMI-FINALS

Date

Game

Time

City

SAT, May 19

61

13:30/14:30

Helsinki

SAT, May 19

62

17:30/18:30

Helsinki

Semi-Finals: Helsinki: W(1H-4H) - W(2S-3S) & W(1S-4S) - W(2H-3H).If qualified for the semi-finals, Finland will play the early game.If Finland is not qualified for the semi-finals but Sweden is, then Sweden will play the early game.Should Finland and Sweden play each other in the semi-finals, then the teams would play the early game.